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Jazz loved her parents. She truly, honestly did. Reginald and Victoria wanted nothing more than the best for their daughter, which she understood completely. The problem was, her parents had a different definition for what they considered the ‘best’. Her schooling and degree choice were the perfect example. She would have been more than happy simply getting her basic degree and working as a medical assistant. Reginald and Victoria almost had simultaneous strokes when she’d tried to suggest that route. Instead, her parents had pushed her into the full degree program with a heavy dose of guilt for not being more like her older brother.
She’d always looked up to Jameson. She couldn’t help it, considering the pedestal her parents put him on. She wished they were closer but his job with Doctors Without Borders kept him out of the country for long periods of time and when he was home, he was so busy it was hard to find time to bond. Her parents hadn’t been too pleased with their older son’s career choice. Instead of joining a prestigious practice, which he had been groomed for, he’d gone the opposite direction and ended up pissing them off. Her brother had stood his ground though, regardless of how hard their parents tried to sway things.
Jazz was not that strong. She tried her damnedest never to disappoint them but lately, it had been getting harder and harder to be the perfect daughter they wanted. With Jameson often out of touch in the jungle somewhere saving lives, their focus was solely on her, and the expectations were heavy. It was exhausting.
Leo was nodding at something that Mack was saying when Jazz realized her thoughts had wandered away from the table. She had no clue what they were even talking about anymore.
“The picnic is going to be basically a small fair this year. Cap’ said that you had some suggestions to help raise money?” Mack took a long sip of his beer, rocking back on two legs of his chair.
“I have a couple ideas, but it’s going to be a lot of work.” Leo looked over at her, a smile tilting his full lips. “Maybe you could help us out with one or two of the booths?”
She nodded, her heart picking up speed at the look he was giving her. He was so sexy she couldn’t help it. At this point, she was amazed that she wasn’t drooling on the table. Grabbing a roll from the basket in the center of the table, she used it as a distraction from her wayward thoughts. Buttering one side, she asked, “What type of booths are you talking about?”
“I figured we would have the basics that would bring in some easy cash.” Nodding his head over to Mack, Leo wiggled his brows. “The big guy would make a killing in the dunk tank, don’t you think?”
Mack laughed loudly. “If I’m in the dunk tank, then who’s in the kissing booth? I’m pretty sure that’s where I would bring in the most cash.”
Leo’s eyes turned to her once again, the heat turned up even higher this time. “I don’t know, who do you think should be in the kissing booth?”
Jazz cleared her throat, the tiny bite of bread she’d just swallowed feeling like an entire roll caught in her airway. “Ummm…well, not Will that’s for sure, unless you want Winter to be charged with murder.” She glanced around the room.
“Russo is always popular with the ladies and Phoenix has that bad boy vibe down pat,” she suggested after thinking on it for a second. “He would bring in the oldandthe young if you had him in the kissing booth.”
“You think that we might be able to talk you into volunteering?” Mack asked her while watching Leo.
Leo’s jaw tightened even though the evidence was almost hidden by his short beard. “I would be more than happy to help,” Jazz finally answered, enjoying the idea that Leo might be a little jealous at the thought. “But, I’d most likely be better off in the first aid tent.”
“Good.” Leo’s gruff one-word answer had her biting back a smile.
“What about you?” she asked. She crammed a fork full of barbeque in her mouth to combat the anxiousness she felt waiting for his reply.
“Would I volunteer for the kissing booth?” He shrugged his shoulders. “I guess it depends.”
“On what?” she whispered the question, the rest of the table fading away as she forgot her plans to keep things between them light and easy.
“On if the woman I am kissing has a problem with me spreading my favors around.” Leo leaned in and wiped a drop of barbeque sauce off the corner of her mouth, the action undeniably intimate.
“Oh?” she squeaked, her voice breaking at his nearness.
“Yeah.” He leaned closer. “So, what do you think? Should I volunteer for the kissing booth or something else?”
His breath tickled the sensitive skin on her neck as he spoke, sending a shiver up her spine.
“You’re asking me?” she asked huskily.
“I sure am,” he answered, nuzzling the perfumed skin under her ear. “Since you’re the one I plan on kissing, I figure you should have the final say.”
Chapter 6
Jazz was a goddamn mess.
Trying to ignore Leo for the last twenty minutes while everyone ate and chatted, had taken every single ounce of her willpower. She wasn’t sure what was happening, but she felt hot and tingly just from sitting next to him. Every time he swallowed a drink, she was entranced by the muscles in his neck as they moved. When he reached for something on the table, her gaze automatically took in the tension of his forearms as they reached across the grey cloth. That wasn’t the only thing that she was silently obsessing about either. Jazz felt as if she were getting high off his scent every time the air around him would shift in her direction. She didn’t know what cologne he wore, but he smelled so damn delicious that she wanted to lick him up and down.
More than once.
The crazy thing was that stuff like this never happened…at least not to her. Jazz had never been the type of woman to see a man, become unable to control her libido, and then throw all of her common sense out of the window. She didn’t see a problem with any of that, but it wasn’t her jam. She was the text and talk for a month before setting up a date type. She’d watched way too many murder shows not to be. She wasn’t a nun, she just didn’t want to become the pincushion for a crazed serial killer if she could do anything to help it.
The loud sound of clapping startled Jazz out of her head and back to the engagement party. Looking around, she realized that Will’s father had finished speaking to everyone and was sitting back down at his table.
